trans_9 | Stacy's Toy Shop [Open]

Entry tags:

Stacy's Toy Shop [Open]

Hunched over a table in the Special Weapons Division is Cale, working intently on the automated assembly system that Brainy had designed to build the Omnicom computers and communication rings that the crew would be using so that they didn't have to 'shout across the ship' as the green alien was want to say. Laying on the table next to him, is a datapad that Brainy had given him, detailing the specs of the system. But, these didn't read like normal specs and instructions that Cale had read. They seemed...dumbed down. Big time!

"Step 752: Use magnetic screwdriver to tighten the screws, securing the..." Cale then started to silently read to himself. That is, until he got to the footnote of this particular instruction: "The magnetic screwdriver looks like this: ..."

It was accompanied with a picture of the tool that Cale was supposed to use. He stared at the datapad as if it had just offended him. ~~It did!~~

"I know what a magnetic screwdriver is you green-skinned..."

Cale couldn't even bring himself to finish the sentence.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hola. What's with shouting amigo?"

"Nothing," Cale answered, glancing over his shoulder to take a quick glance at his visitor. "Just a walking, talking pea-pod who's just begging to get split."

There's a pause and he straightens up in his chair, taking advantage of Ron's arrival to give himself a break. "Does this jerk really think everyone on this ship is a total idiot?"

~~Pot, meet Kettle~~.

"Not sure. Haven't been here much longer than you and haven't really talked with him. Name's Ron by the way. Ron Stoppable."

"Hnnk, Rufus!" Rufus waves.

"Stoppable?" Cale repeated. "What the heck kind of name is that?"

"Oh, it's Jewish." Ron says matter-of-factly. "Y'know, people are usually more weirded out about the talking naked mole rat than my last name."

"Just looks like another alien to me," Cale answered to the mole-rat comment, taking the 'it's Jewish' explanation at face value. Considering he didn't know a lot about Earth culture--which included Jews--he was hardly an expert on their last names.

Don't mind the person on the other side of the machine, inspecting the half-built system and trying to piece together the rest in his mind. That's just Billy being curious as usual about the assembly of the communication systems he'd helped to plan.

Billy sighs sympathetically at the new technician's frustration. He appreciates Brainiac's intelligence and initiative, yes, but the nerd not-in-blue knows exactly how it feels to be talked down to. Or...'written' down to in this case, he supposes.

"He really doesn't expect you to be familiar with a magnetic screwdriver?" He shakes his head. "Brainiac probably has the best of intentions, but you'd think he'd have a little more confidence in his tech team."

"His tech team?" Cale echoed, quirking an eyebrow at Billy. "I thought this was supposed to be your tech team."

"You have a point, though you wouldn't guess it from observing the others. Actually, I prefer to think of it as our team."

He smiles sheepishly. Billy's still not quite comfortable with being the co-head of an engineering team whose members have mostly been around longer than he has, but working as a Ranger's taught him to push beyond his self-perceived limits a little.

"It'll be difficult to work as a cohesive unit if we don't know and trust each other, at least on a professional level. I think it would benefit all of us to better learn our assets and limitations---then perhaps Brainiac wouldn't underestimate your skill level again."

"I doubt it," Cale disagreed. "That kid walks around like he's got a plasma saw permanently stuck up his..."

He went silent for a moment as he drove the screws into place and secured the coolant system to the frame of the device.

"They had any luck finding the engine room or the bridge yet?" he asked, shifting the subject away from the haughty (this coming from Cale?), green alien.

"Not that I've heard," Jack butts in as he enters the lab, carrying a small robot. It's beetle-like in shape, about the size of one of his hands, and black and gold in color.

"I think this guy here can help with that. A little delicate, but he should be able to get around in the vents quickly. If this one works I can make more." Jack, lone wolf that he is, has been working on his scout bot while the others tackle the omnicom system.

"How's it going on Team Green Bean?"

"Negative, but I'm sure the scout team will let us know as soon as something comes up." He whispers that last bit, eyes flicking nervously around the room. Billy really would rather not have Stacy angry with him right now. "This..is probably a less than ideal time for that discussion."

Billy leans over to check the coolant system, nodding approvingly. "It shouldn't be too much longer now before we're up and running. Would you like some assistance to speed up the process?"

Cale just scowled at Jack for his 'Team Green Bean' comment. Why everyone felt the need to name the 'team' after Captain 'I'm-smarter-than-everyone-here', he didn't know but it was getting annoying.

Shaking Jack's team name out of his head, Cale looked to Billy. "Yeah, that'd be great. The intake still needs some work."

"Anything I can do?" Jack asks, peering over Cale's shoulder. He sort of does want to help, but the more pressing reason for it is that now that he has the bug built he risks getting bored. Having something to work on helps to keep him from dwelling on the fact he's on a strange alien ship.

Overhearing the same commment, Billy chuckles slightly at the mental image of all of them literally resembling green beans. The odd plantsuits only make it easier---but he can't resist a mumbled comment that sounds somewhat like 'I'd prefer blue, actually'.

The former Ranger glances over the area indicated, noting where parts or tweaks are needed. He smiles slightly and picks up his own tool, prodding the pieces into place. There's something oddly calming about building devices once again. It's the closest thing to home he's found since sliding out of that pod.

"Yeah, actually," Cale says to Jack. Grabbing an extra datapad that he'd brought from the media library, he copies down some of the diagrams that Brainy had given him and hands the pad to Jack.

"Think you can get started on the circuitry?"

Jack takes the pad and pretty much glues his eyes on it, setting the bug on a table to one side almost absently. He's quiet for a moment as he reads it over, then he nods and grins.

"Yeah, looks like cake." He looks up from the diagram to the machine and back at the diagram once or twice. He finds a spot to start working that's mostly out of Cale's way, unslinging the helipack from across his back and opening up the top to pull out tools. They're Jack's tools, probably ancient history by much of the more futuristic crew's standards, but they're what he knows.

"So, uh, what'd you guys used to do before you woke up covered in snot?" he asks conversationally. Well, conversationally for Jack. He's not used to quiet.

Oh. So it's time for the 'getting to know each other' exercise again. He'd brought it up himself earlier, to be fair, but there was still something slightly uncomfortable about letting people in on the adventures that had once been a secret between him and his friends. His friends who were universes away.

"I've been an aspiring inventor since as long as I could hold a wrench and read a blueprint---possibly even earlier. By the time I reached high school, I was in my garage every afternoon building things, which included communicators, thought-transfer devices, and my favorite project, a flying car. My dad came to dread the explosions coming from the garage." There's a small chuckle there, as he takes a breath and transitions into the important part.

"During my sophomore year, four of my friends and I were teleported to a mysterious command center in the middle of the desert during an earthquake. An intergalactic being in a timewarp, represented by a head in a tube, had chosen us to become heroes. We were the Power Rangers, a team in brightly colored power suits fighting monsters of all sizes. I wore blue." Though unlike in Angel Grove, you wouldn't guess it from looking at him.

"Up until I was abducted, I was living a dual life as hero and student. But here I'm strictly a scientist with some martial arts skill. According to Stacy, the key to accessing my powers is aboard the ship but locked out of reach."

Cale nodded as Billy recited his history and experience. Was everyone on this dang ship a hero? The way things seemed to be turning out, the answer was apparently 'yes.' When he shared his own story, it was by no means as complete nor as flattering as Billy's had been.

"I worked salvage."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Stacy's Toy Shop [Open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject